Merck & Co. has entered into a licensing and research agreement with Aligos Therapeutics to discover, research, optimise and develop oligonucleotides directed against a non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) target and up to one additional target of interest in the cardiometabolic/fibrosis space. The deal, which is worth up to US$916M, will complement Merck’s NASH pipeline, which comprises NGM Biopharmaceuticals’ NGM313 (now known as MK 3655), and Hanmi Pharmaceuticals’ efinopegdutide.